Another Scientific Casualty

I am an organic chemistry graduate student that is facing the realities of being in American science. Chemistry used to be one of the few fields where people got jobs right after getting their PhD. But in the past three years, we joined the ranks of the rest of the PhDs. We now have a long Post-Doc trap, outright unemployment and massive outsourcing. There is little chance of making it to retirement anymore. And it's not getting better anytime soon.

I'm already more than half way through my PhD and will not have a job for 4-5 years if I'm lucky. I love science, but the profession has become ridiculous now. This is a tough question, but what the hell should I do? Go into medicine? Teach high school? Expunge my PhD and start all over?

I admire your escape from the wage slavery that I will have to endure, possibly as a PhD at McDonalds. Just looking for some creative answers, besides my boss telling me to learn Chinese.

Answers

Hmmm... your boss, despite being too dumb to go to med school, might
be on the right track with the Chinese suggestion. The U.S. economy
and therefore job market is becoming ever more dominated by
government-sponsored enterprises (e.g., banking, health care) and/or
government itself. It is hard to see why a Ph.D. in Chemistry would be
useful. By contrast, a huge number of rapidly growing enterprises in
China are heavily dependent on technical and scientific innovation of
all kinds. Look at
http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/13/technology/gunther_electric.fortune/
for just one example. If you want to stick with Chemistry, figure out
if you'd like to live in China. If the answer is "no", probably it is
time to prepare yourself to work in a government-sponsored enterprise
(e.g., medicine, as you say) or for the government (teaching high
school 5 hours/day for $10,000/month (in Massachusetts you only have
to work 4.5 days/month; you get every Wednesday afternoon off in most
districts)).

Thanks Philip. The government does seem to be becoming a bigger
employer these days. I've been a part of it since I was five years old
in the education machine of government :D. However it does come with
what I call "skill rot" and "skill obsolescence". Government jobs tend
to be so narrow the rest of my skills would just rot. Teaching is just
as bad, ten years would be enough to turn me into a Walmart greeter in
the private sector. Nevertheless, they are good ideas at this time. If
American science ever recovers, I fear it may be long after I could
have benefited.

you are definitely smart enough to invent something new, find venture capital, create the next Microsoft and employ us all. So get off your sorry ass and do it. I, who do not have my PhD, need the job!